The present disclosure relates to caregiver locating tags or badges, and more particularly to caregiver locating tags or badges having advanced functionality.
Generally, caregiver locating tags or badges are worn by caregivers in a healthcare facility so that other components of a real time locating system (RTLS) can determine the locations of the caregivers within the healthcare facility. The terms “tag(s)” and “badge(s)” are used interchangeably herein. The caregiver locating badge may permit the caregiver to have access to designated areas of the healthcare facility while preventing access to other caregivers who are not authorized to have access to the designated areas. Based on communication with the caregiver locating badge, the RTLS is able to determine that the caregiver has entered a patient's room, for example. Thus, signals from some caregiver badges are used to track the caregiver's whereabouts within a healthcare facility.
Sometimes caregivers are required to wear multiple badges or tags while at work. For example, caregivers may have an employee tag or card with a magnetic strip or other identifying chip and may also have a badge included as part of the RTLS. Having to keep track of multiple badges and tags may introduce inefficiency in the caregiver's work activities if one of the badges becomes lost. Wearing multiple tags on different parts of the caregiver's clothing or body also can be cumbersome since these tend to hang downwardly from the caregiver when the caregiver leans over to attend to a patient, for example.
The work activities of caregivers in healthcare facilities sometimes are interrupted due to having to recharge low batteries of their respective badges. Occasionally, caregiver's may require assistance with a combative or uncooperative patient. Some room stations of nurse call systems have a user input such as a button which is designated for caregivers to call for assistance when under duress. However, in some situations, the caregiver may not be able to reach the room station to place such a call. Accordingly, there is room for improvement in connection with badges used in RTLS's to increase caregiver efficiency and safety.